When you finish a lesson, the first question you might answer to yourself is "How did it go?". To develop a habit of thinking about your teaching as a way of improving your teaching, it can be helpful to ask yourself a sequence of increasingly probing questions. Such a sequence is suggested below. After reviewing your instructor's notes or audio recording of your lesson, use the questions in the table below to think about your lesson and arrive at some concrete steps for improving your practice.
Taxonomy of Reflection
Description
Remembering:
What did I want, do, feel, and think?
What did the student(s) want, do, feel, and think?
I wanted to clarify the differences in the soil so that my students could develop theories on plant growth from the different soils. I ended up posing pre-planned questions to get my students to think on the soils and share their observations and then elaborated on their observations and connected ther thoughts with my own. I was nervous at first as to whether or not it would work, but I am pretty sure students walked away understanding the connections and with the right train of thought.
Understanding:
What was important about it?
For me? For the student(s)? For both of us?
It was important that students understood that the sandy soil didn't have the ability to hold as much nutrients and water which is why the plants in the regular soil will most likely grow larger in the same amount of time. The idea of the lab was to get the students to make a theory, observe over a period of time, then form conclusions based on what they saw and knew.
Applying:
Where can I use this again?
This could be applied to future life/plant science courses. It could be modified for high school biology courses by having the students determine variables and increasing the rigor in other areas such as a more formal paper.
Analyzing:
Do I see any patterns in what I did?
I noticed as I went throughout the day my questioning got better and I was able to identify student misconceptions as well as had an idea of what they were and how to deal with them due to previous classes.
Evaluating:
What was effective and what was not effective?
Having the students set up the plants/plant them and setting up the layers wasn't as effective as expected. There was more student error than expected and as a result there were a few groups that had one of their two plants not grow. This is effective in regards to it being a study of true science and that human error is always a role player, however it slightly took away from the students' experiences and learning opportunity by not having a successful trial.
Creating:
What could I do next?
Next time I did this, I would have a teacher done one incase of the human error. From this lab, there could be another lab where the students cross pollinate the plants that grow which would be good for reproduction and plant cycle lessons.
Lesson Title: Plant Growth Lab
Observation Date: 11/14
Instructions:
When you finish a lesson, the first question you might answer to yourself is "How did it go?". To develop a habit of thinking about your teaching as a way of improving your teaching, it can be helpful to ask yourself a sequence of increasingly probing questions. Such a sequence is suggested below. After reviewing your instructor's notes or audio recording of your lesson, use the questions in the table below to think about your lesson and arrive at some concrete steps for improving your practice.
What did I want, do, feel, and think?
What did the student(s) want, do, feel, and think?
What was important about it?
For me? For the student(s)? For both of us?
Where can I use this again?
Do I see any patterns in what I did?
What was effective and what was not effective?
What could I do next?